Google Now More Rigid on Adsense Approvals

If the pitch Google gave advertisers this week about the value of affiliate marketing weren't enough to show's the search engine's commitment to the future of the practice, it's about to get much more obvious.

Google is taking the quality of its affiliate network more seriously, adding a two-step review process for Adsense Publisher approvals.

Adsense has long been known in the affiliate marketing space as the easiest (if not most profitable) program of its type to join. The changes may signal the good 'ol days of Adsense (at least for the most rogue publishers out there) are coming to an end.

After a new application is submitted, Google will now run a preliminary check on the site and the site details submitted by the applicant - but you can't start raking in the revenue just yet. If the application passes the first stage, the applicant will then be notified by email and granted account access so they can grab the code and place it on their website. Google is now requiring that the ad code be implemented on the site before the second phase of the review process begins. Live ads won’t immediately appear once ad code has been placed on the submitted site, temporarily showing “blank ads” which blend in with the background of the page instead. Applicants logging into their AdSense account at this stage of the review process will see a reminder that their account remains under review.

Soon after the ad code has been added to the submitted site, a final approval decision will be made by Google and the applicant will be notified by email. Newly approved publishers will see live ads automatically appear in the existing ad units on their pages.